Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority
Products
Vontas OnRoute Vechile Intelligence
“Our partnership with Vontas has transformed our operation overnight and provides endless possibilities for future technology.”
Michael Lively
Manager, ITS, GCRTA
With many of their key systems in place for many years, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) decided the time was ripe for a fleetwide upgrade to replace antiquated equipment and reap the benefits of new transportation technology. A central component of the project involved upgrading their Vontas OnRoute CAD/AVL system, whose powerful features the agency was especially keen to leverage with their new communications systems.
Background
The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) is a long-time Vontas customer. Recently, GCRTA has been completing major upgrades to its transit system for both the fixed route buses as well as the heavy and light rail systems.
Many of their key systems had been in place for many years. As part of the systems upgrade, GCRTA upgraded their data communications system, their voice system, EDACS, which was announced as end of life and would no longer be supported, as well as OnRoute, their Vontas CAD/AVL system.
Solution
GCRTA went through a significant upgrade process, drastically improving their agency’s technology to provide a better experience for their staff and customers. During the OnRoute upgrade, the system was transitioned to the state’s MARCS system, the main system for first responders.
They upgraded their entire fleet from DOS-based hardware to the new V8 hardware platform with color touch screens as well as full fleet deployment of mobile-enriched MDTs, which make it easier for drivers to safely operate vehicles while seeing all the critical information they need. They also rolled out OnRoute’s Turn by Turn, a split screen with turning instructions so drivers can easily see upcoming directions without having to look at another device.
“Turn by Turn was just implemented a couple of weeks ago. The drivers were pleasantly surprised when they logged in that day and saw the map. The veteran drivers said they didn’t ‘need’ it but agreed it was a nice option. The newer drivers and trainers were very excited to have the map and the audible TBT option available. And the various views available are great for allowing each driver to customize to their preference,” said Julie Schultz, Senior ITS Specialist – OnRoute, GCRTA.
As part of the upgrade, they installed Trapeze DriverMate on all paratransit and contractor vehicles – they previously had the same MDTs and utilized OnRoute for paratransit. GCRTA is also eager to take advantage of Vehicle Intelligence (VI) and have deployed it to their full fleet. VI allows them to track their vehicles’ health and performance in real-time to proactively monitor the fleet before issues occur and cause disruptions to passengers.
Results
“Previously we were working with antiquated equipment that could not handle all of the amazing software options that OnRoute has developed over recent years. We are now able to react to schedule and announcement changes overnight that previously took weeks of processing downloads. Our data accuracy has skyrocketed and we can now work on implementing more options and configurations to assist our dispatch in more effectively managing service,” said Schultz.
Vehicles were migrated from a conventional data system to a cellular system using a mobile data router, enabling the agency to change vehicle position update rates from 60 to 15 seconds. With this enhanced reporting rate, real-time vehicle location reporting is improved, providing precise location and schedule adherence information.
In addition to enhanced vehicle communications, the new mobile router also allows GCRTA to provide their customers with WiFi access aboard the vehicles, improving the overall rider experience.
“We’re seeing significant improvements in data captured, on-time performance, and equipment reliability.” said Michael Lively, Manager – ITS, GCRTA.